Performance of Ultrasonic and Infrared Sensors for Detection of the Target for Development of Sensor Based Orchard Sprayer

Detection of plant canopy is one of the main tasks in achieving the variable rate spraying. Two types of sensors, namely ultrasonic and infrared sensors were studied for the parameters viz., error, range of detection and response time at different distances from the sensor. The error of the sensors was found to be 5.6, -11, -10.5 and 15.4, 26.4, 32.3 mm at a distance of 500, 1000 and 1500 mm from the sensor for ultrasonic and infrared respectively. The range of detection was found to be 147.33, 343.67, 430.66 and 50.66, 67.00, 83.67 mm at a distance 500, 1000 and 1500 mm from the sensor for ultrasonic and infrared sensor respectively. The response time was found to be 0.20, 0.24, 0.28 and 0.25, 0.27, 0.29 s at 500, 1000 and 1500 mm from the sensor for ultrasonic and infrared sensor respectively. The ultrasonic sensor was found to be superior to the infrared sensor in terms of error, range of measurement and response time. The ultrasonic sensor can be better suited for target detection for development of target based sprayer. The sensors will play a crucial role in achieving variable rate of spraying by detecting the target.